45 Incredible Photos That Show How WWI Was Fought From The Sea

As the land war in Europe goes on, the need to move troops and supplies by any means necessary became vital. At sea, carrier and resupply ships brave submarine attacks, underwater mines and aerial bombardment just to deliver the support their allies on land need.

Below is a collection of photographs that somehow tells the story of the naval battles of the First World War, those caught up in it, and how much it affected the world.

1. The former German submarine UB 148 at sea, after having been surrendered to the Allies on November 26 at Harwich, England. Later, when the U.S. Navy expressed an interest in acquiring several former U-boats to be used in conjunction with a Victory Bond drive, the UB-148 was one of the six boats allocated for that purpose.

3. Evacuation of Suvla Bay, Dardanelles, Gallipoli Peninsula, on January 1916. After eight bloody months, the Allied effort to capture the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) on the peninsula failed. The troops withdrew in defeat, under cover of fire from the sea.

5. The British Aircraft Carrier HMS Argus which could carry 15-18 aircraft. The Argus didn't see any comabt as it was commissioned at the very end of WWI. The ship's hull is painted in Dazzle camouflage designed to make it difficult for an enemy to estimate the range, heading, or speed of a ship, and make it a harder target - especially as seen from a submarine's periscope.

15. British submarine HMS A5, an A-class British submarine used in World War I for harbor defense. The A5, however, suffered an explosion only days after its commissioning in 1905, and did not participate in the war.

18. The USS Pocahontas, a U.S. Navy transport ship, painted in Dazzle camouflage, 1918. The ship was originally a German passenger liner named the Prinzess Irene docked in New York at the start of the war. She was seized by the U.S. when it entered the conflict in April 1917, and re-christened Pocahontas.

21. German submarines in a harbor. The caption, in German, reads "Our U-Boats in a harbor". Front row (left to right): U-22, U-20 (the sub that sank the Lusitania), U-19 and U-21. Back row (left to right): U-14, U-10 and U-12.

33. The "Leviathan", formerly the German passenger liner "Vaterland", leaving Hoboken, New Jersey, for France. In the spring and summer of 1918, Leviathan averaged 27 days for the round trip across the Atlantic, carrying 12,000 soldiers on each trip.

36. The Zeebrugge Raid took place on April 23, 1918. In an attempt to block the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge, The Royal Navy sunk older ships in the canal entrance, to prevent German vessels from leaving port. Two ships were successfully sunk in the canal, killing 583 people. Unfortunately, the ships were sunk in the wrong place, and the canal was re-opened in days. Photo taken in May of1918.